News that animal shelters in the greater Capital Region are euthanizing dogs and cats at alarmingly high rates — nearly triple the average for the Northeastern United States — should come as little surprise to anyone who lives in the area and has observed anecdotally over the last several years the number of problems associated with too many animals under too little control. Indeed, the problems have grown worse as dog and cat populations have ...

You Must Log-In or Subscribe to Continue
Individual stories can be found and purchased from our Archives for $2.00

follow us

comments

We don't have enough police officers in Schenectady now, so where are you going to find someone to stop the owners and check for a license? You post an editorial telling us what should be done with no suggestion on how to accomplish it. Typical Gazette editorial, lot's of complaints with no solutions.....Bravo.

Given Schenectady's population - sub-humans who breed like bunnies and don't take care of their children, themselves, or their surroundings, it's not surprising we have pet overpopulation issues. These sub-humans are also pet owners, and they don't have their pets fixed and they don't care for them properly, so subsequently it's their pets that end up in the shelters. The sub-humans living next door to me, who have had their children taken away and spend their days and nights partying and destroying surrounding property, were elated when their pit bull knocked up another dog. I can only imagine where those puppies are now. Pet ownership should be a privilege for those who are responsible.

If a dog complaint comes in, the city should be able to find out pretty quickly if there are any dog licenses issued to that address. If none found, Animal Control goes and issues a citation, and if dog is not licensed in 10 days, suspend owner's vehicle registration and or driver's license. Even if owner says they got rid of the dog, they still need to pay the license fee and fine for not having the dog licensed in first place. Attach the penalty for failure to license a dog to an owners ability to drive and compliance should increase.